Six cops booked on charges of 'killing' a Dalit youth in Amroha: official

Six policemen, including an inspector and a sub-inspector, were booked Wednesday on charges of "killing" a Dalit youth in their custody in Amroha district here, said a senior official.

The Department has already suspended 11 police officials of the Dhanaura police station for their alleged involvement in the custodial death, said Amroha Superintendent of Police Brijesh Kumar Singh.

Singh identified the six policemen, booked on charges of the "custodial killing" of 30-year-old Dalit youth Balkishan as Dhanaura police station in-charge, Inspector Arvind Mohan Sharma, Sub-Inspector Manoj Upadhyay, Head Constable Ravindra Rana and constables Vinit Chaudhary, Jitendra and Vivek.

The SP said on a complaint of the victim's relative Jai Prakash, the six policemen were also booked on various charges under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The victim's wife Kunti, manwhile, demanded damages for killing of her husband and a job for herself from the Uttar Pradesh government.

The police registered the first information report against the six police officials after hundreds of the victim's co-villagers held a day-long protest at the nearby national highway, disrupting traffic.

As per the complaint lodged with the police in case, Balkishan, a resident of Basi Sherpur of Mandi Dhanaura in Amroha, had been picked up by the police on Sunday for questioning into a case of the purchase of stolen motorcycle and was thrown behind bars.

On deterioration of his health on the night intervening Tuesday and Wednesday, Balkishan was rushed to a hospital where he was declared "brought dead".

The victim's wife alleged her husband died due to thrashing by the police in custody. The police were also demanding money from her for his release, she alleged.

Sources said on intimation of Balkishan's death in police custody, hundreds of his co-villagers descended on the adjoining national highway on Wednesday morning and blocked traffic, resulting in huge traffic jam.

The crowd also damaged several vehicles during the protest, warranting police to deploy PAC personnel to contain the mob's fury, they said.

Making an appeal to the agitating crowd to withdraw their stir and vacate the road to resume the traffic, Amroha's Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sanjay Bansal and police Circle Officer Monika Yadav said the erring police officials have already been suspended.